This paper provides an introduction to the special issue of the Journal of Policy Research in Tourism, Leisure and Events on Festival Cities and Tourism. It provides a contextualisation of the conversations surrounding the relationship between cities and their festivals during the Covid-19 pandemic. Focussing on the ‘festival city’ of Edinburgh, we examine how festival organisers reacted to the challenges of the pandemic, and how they strove to maintain contact with audiences and other stakeholders. We then review the different contributions to the special issue, ranging from festivalisation and suburban food festivals in Barcelona to an art festival in Dublin, the European Capital of Culture in Hungary and the festival portfolio of Hong Kong.
The role of smart cities in order to improve older people’s quality of life, sustainability and opportunities, accessibility, mobility, and connectivity is increasing and acknowledged in public policy and private sector strategies in countries all over the world. Smart cities are one of the technological-driven initiatives that may help create an age-friendly city. Few research studies have analysed emerging countries in terms of their national strategies on smart or age-friendly cities. In this study, Romania which is predicted to become one of the most ageing countries in the European Union is used as a case study. Through document analysis, current initiatives at the local, regional, and national level addressing the issue of smart and age-friendly cities in Romania are investigated. In addition, a case study is presented to indicate possible ways of the smart cities initiatives to target and involve older adults. The role of different stakeholders is analysed in terms of whether initiatives are fragmentary or sustainable over time, and the importance of some key factors, such as private–public partnerships and transnational bodies. The results are discussed revealing the particularities of the smart cities initiatives in Romania in the time frame 2012–2020, which to date, have limited connection to the age-friendly cities agenda. Based on the findings, a set of recommendations are formulated to move the agenda forward. CC-BY Original article: https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph17145202 (This article belongs to the Special Issue Feature Papers "Age-Friendly Cities & Communities: State of the Art and Future Perspectives") https://www.dehaagsehogeschool.nl/onderzoek/lectoraten/details/urban-ageing#over-het-lectoraat
This collection of articles contains contributions to the research project ‘From Prevention to Resilience’ (FPtP). In this project, the research team has generated insights and tools for designers, policymakers, and other professionals to contribute to more resilient cities and neighborhoods. The point of departure was public space as a site for intervention, while learning from the ongoing developments revolving around the Covid-19 pandemic. During the early phases of the pandemic, governments initially focused on preventing the virus from spreading. Public spaces came to be seen as potential places for contamination. In response, fences, markings, and barrier tapes were put into place to orchestrate people’s movement and promote physical distance. With our research project, we explored the role that public space could play besides such often ad hoc preventive measures. What other challenges can public space tackle with regard to the various shocks and stressors that hit cities and neighborhoods, now and in the future? And how to tackle these challenges in an integral way? An integral approach to designing public spaces involves many disciplines, and it is to a great extent dependent on local governments’ take on public spaces. To this end, we asked relevant experts to share their disciplinary reflections on a design perspective we have developed in the FPtP project, called Human / Non-Human Public Spaces. An earlier version of this design perspective was handed over to experts to provide feedback from an urban climate adaptation perspective and from a governance and cultural change perspective. Stephanie Erwin and Jeroen Kluck provide concrete feedback on the design perspective and offer a discussion in relation to the field of urban climate resilience. Alex Straathof offers an essayistic text in which he reflects on some of the key notions of the design perspective, reflecting on some of the key notions of the design perspective based on cultural theory and his experience with interventions on the neighborhood level. In parallel, we commissioned two independent experts in the field of spatial development and governance to make a preliminary analysis of the impact of COVID-19 on the government perspectives on public spaces. Both experts were given the same question, but they applied different methods. Hugo Verschoor Plug conducted an analysis on two national policy documents and six ‘omgevingsvisies’ – i.e., strategies on spatial planning and the environment – of large and middle-sized cities: Amsterdam, Breda, The Hague, Groningen, Rotterdam and Zwolle. Denise Vrolijk was asked to interview professionals from a cross-section of Dutch Cities in order to obtain their perspectives on how local governments viewed the role of public spaces in relation to resilience. Together, these analyses provide an overview of the current state of affairs in public space and urban resilience. We thank the authors for sharing their expertise and insights and thereby contribute to the FPtR project. This project is funded by The Netherlands Organization for Health Research and Development (ZonMw), part of the subsidy round ‘COVID 19: Maatschappelijke Dynamiek’, project nr. 10430032010029.
Designing cities that are socially sustainable has been a significant challenge until today. Lately, European Commission’s research agenda of Industy 5.0 has prioritised a sustainable, human-centric and resilient development over merely pursuing efficiency and productivity in societal transitions. The focus has been on searching for sustainable solutions to societal challenges, engaging part of the design industry. In architecture and urban design, whose common goal is to create a condition for human life, much effort was put into elevating the engineering process of physical space, making it more efficient. However, the natural process of social evolution has not been given priority in urban and architectural research on sustainable design. STEPS stems from the common interest of the project partners in accessible, diverse, and progressive public spaces, which is vital to socially sustainable urban development. The primary challenge lies in how to synthesise the standardised sustainable design techniques with unique social values of public space, propelling a transition from technical sustainability to social sustainability. Although a large number of social-oriented studies in urban design have been published in the academic domain, principles and guidelines that can be applied to practice are large missing. How can we generate operative principles guiding public space analysis and design to explore and achieve the social condition of sustainability, developing transferable ways of utilising research knowledge in design? STEPS will develop a design catalogue with operative principles guiding public space analysis and design. This will help designers apply cross-domain knowledge of social sustainability in practice.
In line with the ‘Natuur- en milieubeleidsplan Caribisch Nederland 2020-2030 (NMBP)’ the consortium intends with this research proposal to contribute to a prosperous society with a resilient population and healthy natural environment. The Caribbean Netherlands are dealing with a situation where imported vegetables and fruits are mostly imported and hardly affordable. This leads to consuming unhealthy food and high obesities rates as a consequence. A lack of good agricultural practices with regard to water-smart and nature inclusive agriculture, as well as limited coping capacities to deal with hazards and climate change, results in very limited local production and interest. Initiatives that focused only on agrotechnological solutions for food resilient futures turned out to be ineffective due to a lack of local ownership, which jeopardizes sustainability. Moreover, the ‘green’ and ‘blue’ domains are not seen as attractive career perspectives among youth, hampering a bright future for those domains. The aim of this research is to contribute to water-smart and nature inclusive food resilience embedded in a local participatory perspective in the Caribbean Netherlands. To address the above challenges, a living lab approach is adopted, where youth will be trained as (co)-facilitators (WP1) who will contribute to a participatory envisioning process and an articulation of food resilient futures (WP2). Finally, based on the envisioning process local stakeholders will select and implement experiments for food resilient futures followed by dissemination of results among key stakeholders as well as children and youth at the BES islands (WP3). This project strategy will lead to a network of a living lab where professionals and youth work together on food resilient futures. Training manuals and the results of experiments with regard to water and food system alternatives will be used actively to encourage youth to be involved in sustainable agriculture and consumption.
Het platform “Urban Energy”, met kennisuitwisseling tussen Hogescholen onderling en de Hogescholen en de TKI Urban Energy, biedt een belangrijke meerwaarde op verschillende terreinen. Dit is te vertalen naar de volgende hoofddoelen: 1. Verrijken onderzoeksportfolio en zichtbaarheid creëren rondom praktijkgericht onderzoek 2. Versnellen en versterken noodzakelijke curriculumvernieuwing 3. Verbinding met de context, zowel in de zin van uitdagingen vanuit maatschappelijke thematiek en bedrijfsleven. Het platform vult het gat op, wat nog vaak wordt ervaren tussen o.a. academisch onderzoek en bedrijfsleven maar ook tussen verschillende beleidsthema’s. De brug naar valorisatie bijvoorbeeld richting MKB kan zo meer gestalte krijgen doordat de, voor het MKB relevante, partners in onderzoek beter gevonden kunnen worden. Het platform leidt tot op elkaar afgestemde onderzoeksactiviteiten die goed oplijnen met de maatschappelijke uitdagingen van de energietransitie in de stedelijke context en zo bijdraagt aan de effectieve en efficiënte inzet van onderzoeksmogelijkheden, maar ook de continue verrijking van het curriculum aan praktijkgerichte onderwijsinstellingen en de versterking van het bedrijfsleven. Om dit te bewerkstelligen wordt gewerkt aan activiteiten als: • Programmering voor praktijkgericht onderzoek: gezamenlijk op een brede thema complementair bewegen • Kennisuitwisseling en ervaring delen vanuit lopend onderzoek in relatie tot de openstaande uitdagingen Het platform is zowel een goede gesprekspartner voor nationale en regionale overheid en bedrijfsleven, als ook kunnen onderzoeksactiviteiten verder versterkt en verbeterd worden. Daarnaast zal het platform ook een goede verbinding bewerkstelligen rond onderwijsvernieuwing op de beroepsinhoud en verbinding met praktijkplatforms b.v.: • Link maken met Teacher's learning rond het opzetten van gezamenlijke onderzoek/onderwijs instrumenten (minoren, afstudeer ateliers, jaarlijkse battle energie neutrale stad, etc.) • Link maken met mbo en hbo, en hbo en universiteiten, voor doorlopende leerlijnen via de band van het onderzoek en een grotere onderzoeksdynamiek • Inzet van Energielinq om koppeling te leggen met bedrijven, etc. • Effectief acteren in internationale dimensie
